The nursing students’ motion was’ party politics’ designed to make ‘government look bad,’ says Varadkar

TÁNAISTE LEO VARADKAR has said that the motion on the remuneration of female nursing students last week was a “party policy” designed to make the “government look bad” and the “opposition look good.”

For the third day in a row, the issue of nursing student pay was raised in the Dáil during the Leaders’ Questions.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said female nursing students were replacing nurses during a pandemic and were not being paid. He said they were being “exploited” and that if they had not stepped in to fill the void, the healthcare system would have collapsed.

Varadkar said last week’s motion was not binding and would not have resulted in a higher payment for female nursing students.

His comments come as Health Minister Stephen Donnelly promised that a “brief and independent review” of student nursing assignments will be completed by the end of the month.

Donnelly said that nursing students and midwives receive subsidies, including accommodation of up to € 50 per week and a reimbursement of travel expenses.

He said students receive salaries of € 21,000 / € 22,000 in their fourth year.

“This is an issue the government is getting involved in,” Varadkar said, stating that public pay issues will be negotiated by the government and the unions, but are not determined by motions in the Dáil.

He said that nursing students are unpaid in the first, second and third years, but are paid in the fourth year.

It is a degree course, it is not an apprenticeship, Varadkar said, noting that the training assignment is available for apprenticeships but not for university courses.

However, he said that if nurses misbehave, like replacing a staff nurse, “it’s okay to get paid.”

Varadkar said Doherty was speaking as if it was a Sinn Féin motion last week, noting that it was a People Before Profit motion.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett told the Tánaiste to “stop the spin.”

He said that other EU countries, such as Germany, pay their nursing students throughout their course and asked the government to do the same.

Donnelly told the Dáil this morning that if representative organizations endorse the review, any recommended increase in allocation in relation to Covid-19 would be in effect in January.

A second long-term review of student placements in all years of a nursing degree will also be conducted.

Separately, the government has also instigated a formal review to determine whether nursing students were asked to engage in inappropriate practices during their placement.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that if there are alleged serious infractions they should be investigated.